2015/11/26

What Is the Cost of Software Defects?

The logic is very simple: the sooner a software defect or a bug is detected, the cheaper it will cost to fix it. It's clear that it is much easier and cheaper to correct a line in the specification or the code than to make any changes in the end product.

Not to mention the situation when the defect is detected by a customer or a user – in this case the developer's reputation may suffer and the company may bear great losses.

Over time, the cost of software defect corrections increases, while the impact of the project developers on the development process decreases.

In the extreme case, if a serious software bug is detected on the latest stages of development, it may be left uncorrected, as the cost of correction may be too high. Moreover, even if the program meets the specification demands, the customer can still refuse to accept it if that specification was incorrect.

The project team can develop exactly what was described in the requirements, but if the requirements were interpreted incorrectly, the result will not satisfy the customer. It sounds like hard reality for software developers, isn't it?